He Doesn't Even Notice Me
by SharpeBB
Summary: When T.K. started ignoring Kari, she didn't think it was a problem. But after several weeks of not talking to the boy of her dreams, her depression is getting the better of her. All she wants to know is what happened, but she's scared of what the truth may be.


Back again for another Takari one-shot! Hope you all enjoy it!

The ~~~~~ lines represent the start and end of a flashback. Just FYI. Haha.

Oh, and the annoying disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

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><p>The brunette girl watched from a distance as he walked down the hall, seemingly oblivious to the dozens of eyes that followed him. Including hers. His golden blonde hair bounced slightly with each step. His bright blue eyes were full of life and happiness. His dazzling white smile seemed to emit its own glow, lighting up everyone he passed. There was no getting around it. Takeru Takaishi was absolutely gorgeous.<p>

"If only he hadn't changed," she sighed to herself.

"What was that Kari?" came Yolei's voice from behind me.

Kari turned around to see her tall, purple haired friend giving her a piercing look.

"Oh umm, hey Yolei. It was nothing," Kari said blushing slightly, while quickly looking at T.K. one last time before he turned a corner. She faced Yolei again and saw a large smirk plastered on her face.

"Right. Nothing. Just like when you were staring at him in class and got in trouble for not paying attention. Like when Tai heard you singing love songs. It's always nothing when it comes to Taka isn't it?"

Kari's face went even redder at this, and she cursed herself for having a friend who couldn't keep her voice down.

"Speak louder Yolei, I think he may have missed something you said."

"Oh relax, he has no idea you like him," Yolei said, rolling her eyes, "If he did, then you two would be dating!"

"I think the reason we're not dating is because he's forgotten that I even exist," Kari sulked as the two girls walked down the hallway.

"Oh stop being melodramatic. You're his best friend!'

"Some friendship. He hasn't said more than two words to me at a time since the summer! Six long weeks of nothing. I hate it."

Yolei opened her mouth to reply but closed it, not being able to think of a reply. While she remained speechless, Kari once again thought about everything that had changed.

It had started innocently enough. The new school year had just begun, and for the first time since T.K. had moved back to Odaiba, he and Kari weren't in the same class. Kari just assumed that they weren't talking much because they were trying to adjust to not being together all the time. She didn't even think T.K. missing out on lunch hour for basketball practise was a big deal.

But after a couple weeks, Kari could tell that T.K. was avoiding her. He wouldn't come out to group outings on the weekend, he wasn't responding to her messages and when she asked Yolei, Davis and anyone else, they told her that he was going out of his way to avoid talking about her.

She remembered the first time she had tried to confront him, filled with anger. When she found him though, he was joking around with some of his team mates, wearing the same grin he always had. She couldn't bring herself to yell at him when he was so happy. Kari realised that he probably just needed space, and would talk to her when he was ready.

But a month later, T.K. still hadn't spoken to her, and although she wanted to be angry at him, she couldn't be. She cared about him too much. She just wanted to know what had happened.

"It's like a nightmare that doesn't end Yolei," Kari sighed, "When your best friend, who happens to be the boy you like, just stops talking to you for no reason."

"I'm sure there's a reason. In fact it's probably because he realised how he feels about you, and is too shy to act on it," Yolei said winking at Kari.

"Or, maybe it's because he's realised how all the girls love him and he's getting together with all the girls he can," Kari retorted spitefully.

"He's not that type of guy Kari. He's not someone who would toy with someone's emotions and I certainly can't see him trying to act like a big ladies man," Yolei replied, trying to be reassuring.

Before Kari could respond, they turned the corner and saw T.K. leaning against a wall just on the other side of the corner, talking to a couple of girls with a large grin on his face. The girls turned and walked away from T.K. giggling. Kari opened her mouth to greet T.K. but he suddenly turned around and continued down the hallway.

Yolei's jaw dropped as she looked back and forth between T.K., the girls who had just left and Kari.

"Oh my god I can't believe that just happened," she whispered.

Kari felt tears fill her eyes as she watched as the boy she cared about once again disappeared out of sight. She looked at the two girls as they passed by her, and felt both hate and envy at the same time. She felt Yolei grip her shoulder lightly but she shrugged it off as she continued on through the hallways of the school. She reached her locker and opened it as quickly as she could and threw her books inside before slamming her locker shut. She turned around and rushed to the closest washroom and locked herself in a stall and started crying.

She knew that T.K. was still the same guy, at least according to Yolei, Davis and the others. So somehow, whatever had changed was Kari's fault. She didn't understand what had happened. She didn't know what she had done wrong. Somehow she had sabotaged the best friendship she had ever had and couldn't figure out how she had done it.

She thought back to the last time they had spent time together, trying to see if there was something she had done wrong…

The sun was had just begun its decent in the sky, a fittingly beautiful end to what had been a fantastic summer. The beach was oddly empty, save for a few scattered groups every few hundred metres. Most of the people that were around seemed to be packing up for the day but there were two figures walking along the sands, the waves occasionally reaching their feet.

Kari laughed as T.K. finished another joke and smiled at her friend, resisting the urge to slip her hand into his.

"Boy Davis sure can be an idiot sometimes. I can't believe he forgot about a prank he was trying to pull himself!" Kari said.

"Yeah, but everyone can be stupid at times," T.K. replied, "Although I don't know how you can even notice the difference, because he always acts like an idiot around you. Especially today."

Kari giggled and looked down at the pink bathing suit she was wearing. It wasn't a particularly revealing bikini, but when she had caused quite a stir earlier in the day when she dropped her towel and everyone saw what she was wearing.

Davis had stared gobsmacked for several minutes before Yolei smacked him to his senses, and the rest of the day he had been going out of his way to try to make physical contact with Kari. Cody had blushed and didn't make eye contact with her for the next two hours. Ken stammered for a couple of minutes before regaining his composure, but was oddly polite for the rest of the day. T.K. just grinned when he saw her, which Yolei thought was extremely cute, and refused to comment on her look, simply smiling again every time he was asked about it.

One thing was certain, everyone had been affected by Kari stepping out of her shell.

"Well," Kari began, coming out of her thoughts, "Can you really blame him? I do look pretty fantastic in this."

T.K. just laughed and shook his head, smiling again.

"What? You don't think I look good in this?" Kari asked in a tone of false annoyance.

T.K. rolled his eyes, "I never said that."

"Well then why haven't you made one single comment about how I look today?"

"Why does it matter? It wouldn't really change anything would it?"

"It would change what's about to happen," Kari replied innocently.

"Why? What's abo- WHOA!" T.K. yelled as Kari pushed him into the oncoming waves.

She roared with laughter as T.K. splashed around like a maniac, trying to gain his bearings. When he finally calm down, he was kneeling with both hands in the sand. He looked up with an evil grin at Kari.

"You better start running Kamiya…" he growled.

Kari squeaked and bolted away down the beach. T.K. waited a moment before launching himself after her.

The few people that remained on the beach watched with amusement as they watched the chase, in what they assumed was a playful game between a cute young couple. Kari ran as fast as she could, but knew that T.K. would catch up with her before long. A couple hundred metres after they had passed the last people remaining on the beach, she turned away from the water and started heading towards a large group of sand dunes. She thought this would help, but was mistaken, as she realised T.K. had anticipated this move and had started turning off before she had.

Just as she reached the top of the first dune, she screamed as she felt two arms wrap around her, and she fell to the ground. She closed her eyes as she felt herself roll down the small hill with her pursuer. When they stopped rolling she kept her eyes closed for a moment, giggling the whole time. When she finally opened her eyes she was looking directly into two sparkling blue orbs.

T.K. still had his arms wrapped around her, and was giving her an awkward smile while panting heavily.

"You've gotten faster," he said, as he began to pull his arms away.

Kari placed his arms back where they were, and placed her head on his bare chest, while gripping his torso softly with her arm.

"It's all the running from Davis," she joked.

"And the other boys," T.K. replied in a tone she didn't understand.

Kari raised her head and looked into T.K.'s eyes. He continued to give her an awkward smile as he shifted his body into a slightly more comfortable position. She longed to lean in and kiss the boy she had always adored but resisted the urge. She smiled and shook her head slightly.

"Taka you are such a goofball. There's only one boy I need chasing me," she whispered softly, as she placed her head back on his chest and looked out over the ocean.

The two friends were quiet for a long time. After they had been laying together for nearly half an hour, T.K. reluctantly broke the silence.

"I guess we should get back to the others. They're probably wondering where we went."

"I guess you're right," Kari sighed, "I just wish we could stay like this. It was the perfect way to end the summer."

"It really was," T.K. replied softly, "It's been a perfect day."

Kari wiped the tears away from her face and slowly she got up and exited the stall she had been sitting in. She looked in the mirror and hated the image of the girl who was still completely lost.

She left the bathroom and saw Yolei waiting for her. Yolei opened her mouth to speak but Kari just shook her head, and walked past her to get her things for her next class. All the while trying so hard not to think about the boy who had forgotten her.

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><p>Two days later, Kari found herself in a seemingly empty school. She had stayed after class to get help from her teacher on an assignment she was having trouble with. Normally she would have asked T.K. for help, but that wasn't an option anymore.<p>

She sighed as she started to pull her backpack out of her locker, before throwing it back inside in frustration. She slammed her locker shut and started walking towards the exit. She walked along, lost in her thoughts. She was just about to open the door to leave, when she heard a voices talking in a room to her left.

Kari saw that the door was slightly ajar, and quietly approached it, trying to see who was in there. She gasped when she saw Yolei talking to T.K., who had his back to the door. She could tell by the look on Yolei's face that she wasn't impressed with what she was hearing. Kari pushed the door in slightly, trying to hear what they were saying.

"…doesn't matter, she deserves to know," Yolei was saying.

"But I can't do that to her! What would I say? How would she react?" T.K. asked.

"T.K. that's not the point!" Yolei scolded, "She's you're best friend, she cares about you, and you started ignoring her. And if you don't have the decency to tell her why, then you're a complete ass!"

Kari smiled warmly at how Yolei defended her as T.K. sighed in frustration.

"I want to tell her!" T.K. moaned, "You have to believe that I do! But what do I do? Walk up to her and say, 'Hey Kari, sorry I've been ignoring you lately, but it's because I don't like you anymore. I-'"

Kari fell forward and flung the door open, as it slammed into the wall with a crash. She stood up quickly and saw that T.K. had spun around and was looking at her with a look of horror on his face.

"Kari…" he said softly.

"Oh don't worry about me," Kari replied, trying to keep the pain out of her voice, "You can keep ignoring me. Because I don't care anymore. You're an awful, hurtful person!"

"No Kari I-" T.K. tried to plea.

"I hate you Takeru Takaishi," Kari whispered as she turned and ran out of the school.

She heard the door behind her smash open again, and heard the pounding footsteps behind her, but she didn't care. She kept running as fast as she could. This wasn't like running playfully on the beach. She was trying to escape him. Trying to escape her past, and all the years she had wasted caring about him.

"KARI! KARI STOP!"

She kept hearing him call her name. Begging her to stop. But she was resolved. She wouldn't give him a chance to explain himself. She had to get away now. If she let him reach her, then she'd fall back under his spell, and she didn't want to do that to herself. She had to prove that she finally had the strength that everyone always wanted her to have.

Kari turned into a small park, heading for a grove of trees. She hoped that if she was able to get in there quickly enough, she would be able to lose T.K. Just as she was about to reach the trees, she realised that T.K. was suddenly right behind her.

_He must have figured I'd make a break for the trees… _She thought to herself. _Clearly he still thinks he knows me._

Kari burst through the tree line, and stumbled as she tried to regain her footing on the uneven terrain. She barely made it another two metres before she felt an arm grasp her waist from behind. T.K. pulled her body to his. Despite her arms being pinned to his chest, chest started hitting him wherever she could reach.

"Kari-" T.K. began.

"Let me go T.K.!" she yelled at him.

"Kari please let me explain!" He pleaded.

"NO! You're a complete ass! I hate you!" she continued yelling, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Kari please! I'm sorry. I swear I am so damn sorry!"

Kari finally calmed down for a moment, and looked up at the boy who was holding her. It was the first time in weeks she had gazed into the blue eyes that she adored, and she was startled to see how wet they were, as a couple tears leaked down T.K.'s face. A feeling of exhaustion swept over Kari, and she let her forehead fall on his chest.

"I'm sorry T.K.," she whispered, "I don't hate you. I could never hate you."

"You have no reason to be sorry," T.K. replied, "You should hate me. I've been a complete ass ignoring you the last little while. I owe the biggest apology I could ever owe anyone. I don't know how I'll be able to make it up to you."

Kari looked up at T.K. again with a sad smile. Despite everything that had happened, she still knew the boy she was talking to, and knew he meant every word he said. She once again found herself resisting an urge to kiss him, knowing it was likely the last chance she may ever have.

"Can you at least tell me what I did wrong? Can you tell me why you don't like me anymore?" Kari asked, her voice quivering.

T.K. hung his head in shame, "That's not it Kari. I never, ever stopped liking you. And I can guarantee you that I never will stop."

"Then why did tell Yolei you didn't like me anymore?" Kari challenged him.

"Well, in my defense, I didn't get to finish because I was interrupted," T.K. tried to joke with a half-smile.

Kari couldn't help but roll her eyes at his attempt to tease her just like he always had.

"You're lucky you're so charming," she said, "I'm guessing that's why Yolei didn't punch you when she went to find you to talk."

"Yolei didn't come to me," T.K. replied, "I came to her for help."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

T.K. took a deep breath before speaking, "Well, the other day I saw you two talking. And I overheard the words, 'your infatuation with Taka'. And I needed to talk to her to confirm if she meant what she said."

Kari's eyes widened in horror as she stammered her response, "A-A-And what would she have to confirm?"

T.K. gave her a small, pitying smile, "Kari, there's only one person in the world that you use a nickname for. And I've heard it quite often."

Kari blushed furiously and looked away. She knew that Yolei was going to let the thing out of the bag somehow. And now T.K. knew and she wasn't ready to deal with that.

"So you were getting advice on how not only to end our friendship, but also to break my heart?" she asked.

"Would you stop with that?! I told you, you'll always be my friend."

"Then what's been going on recently?!" Kari yelled, suddenly angry.

T.K. hesitated a moment. Kari could tell he was carefully picking out the right words. She didn't know if it made her happy or angry that he had to be so precise with what he was about to say.

"Kari, do you remember our trip to the beach?"

She nodded, rather unsurprised that he brought it up. She had been expecting that it was the cause of all the problems. Now she would finally know what had gone wrong.

"That day was… well it made me realise something. When I saw you in that bathing suit, I didn't trust myself to talk. I wanted to tell you how incredible you looked but I figured that I would, well say something that Davis might say," he smiled, as Kari let out a reluctant giggle.

"As the day went on, I couldn't help but watch you," T.K. continued, blushing as he did so, "I was trying so hard not to be a creep, but I don't think I did well. I was pretty glad that Davis was proving to be such a useful distraction."

He turned away from Kari for a moment, lost in thought. He sighed before looking at her again and continuing.

"Then we went for our walk at the end of the day. And it was the perfect way to end the summer. Alone, on a beautiful day, with my beautiful best friend."

Kari blushed furiously at this, but said nothing. She still didn't know where T.K. was going with everything.

"Then, I suddenly found myself lying with you in a secluded sand dune, with my arms wrapped around your body. I felt my heart beating rapidly, as I was entranced by what I saw. At first I thought I was just surprised by seeing you in a different type of outfit than I'm used to. But by body quickly proved that wasn't the case," T.K. finished blushing. Kari bit her lip in embarrassment when she realised what T.K. meant, and suddenly understood why he had shifted his body slightly away from her.

"I realised in that moment that I had been sitting on feelings that I had had for years. I just never realised it. I was so close to kissing you right there. But then you mentioned Davis chasing after you. And you said that there was only one boy you needed chasing you. I thought you had finally fallen for Davis. Right when I had changed myself."

Kari stared in amazement, finally understanding what T.K. was saying, but not daring to believe it.

"That's why I cut myself off from you," T.K. said, his voice filled with shame, "I didn't trust myself around you. I was scared of what would happen. I was scared to lose you. And I didn't want to try and interfere with your happiness if you were going to start going out with Davis."

T.K. took another deep breath, trying to keep his voice steady.

"It wasn't smart. It was absolutely the wrong thing to do. I was blinded by selfishness. While trying to protect you and thinking I was letting you be happy, I was hurting the person I care about the most in the worst way possible."

"Oh T.K.," Kari whispered.

"When I overheard you talking with Yolei, I was so happy for a moment, before I realised in horror what an ass I had been. That's when I realised I needed talk to Yolei. I needed to know what to do. Because I didn't realise how much I had hurt you."

He moved his hand, and raised her chin so they were looking into each other's eyes.

"What I was about to say, when you fell through the door, I was saying that I was ignoring you because I don't like you anymore. I love you."

The two friends gazed at each other, remaining motionless for several minutes. Kari couldn't believe what she had heard, not knowing how to react. Eventually T.K. started to chuckle.

"I wish I had phrased everything a little better. Just me being an idiot again. If I knew how to talk we could have-"

"T.K., just shut up," Kari said, as she swiftly leant in and kissed him.

T.K. was stunned for a moment before strengthening his hold on her.

They pulled apart after a minute, smiling and blushing as they did so.

"Honestly wasn't expecting that," T.K. said, "I was expecting a slap in the face."

"Oh you might still get one," Kari replied, "And I'm sure Tai might want to have a chat with you about all this."

"He's not coming home from university any time soon is he?" T.K. asked in a high pitched voice.

"No he's not," Kari laughed.

T.K. sighed with relief, "Well, I would deserve a 'chat' from him. I have a lot to make up for."

"Stop it T.K.," Kari scolded, "I don't want you beating yourself up about this too much. If you want to take me out to a couple extra special and expensive dinners or something, fine. But we're young. We all make mistakes. And you did think you were doing the right thing. So don't hate yourself, because that will just hurt me even more."

T.K. smiled and kissed Kari's forehead. She giggled, and took his hand leading him back into the park. They began to wander the streets of Odaiba, with no particular destination in mind. Every few minutes, they would glance at each other, smiling and blushing. After a couple hours of walking, they stopped at an outlook of the bay. The leaned on a railing and gazed out at the water, reflecting the orange sun setting in the sky. T.K. turned to Kari and took her in his arms. He smiled at her for a moment before he gently kissed her.

"You're so perfect," he whispered after he slightly pulled away.

Kari couldn't help but smile.

"Took you long enough to notice."


End file.
